Themis Bar Review Hangout - February 2015 Exam Forum

[psteele99]

First time poster, long time lurker. I emailed the advisor and she said 65%. My averages are being mutilated as I work my way through he practice sets so I can only hope that Themis is adjusting to test my weak areas. God willing.

[Evaly]

First time poster, long time lurker. I emailed the advisor and she said 65%. My averages are being mutilated as I work my way through he practice sets so I can only hope that Themis is adjusting to test my weak areas. God willing.

I wonder if the percentage differs by state. Which bar are you taking? I am taking CA, and the goal for mixed MBE question sets is 70%.

[TTT_allstar]

65 percent will put you on track for Idaho or Alaska (high UBE states). I think for Montana and its ilk, you only need to get 60 percent raw on MBE to be on passing track. Still pretty tough though. For Missouri and Minnesota, I think if you have a pulse, you're in. God bless them.

Has anyone gotten over 60 percent on civil procedure?

[Evaly]

65 percent will get you into Idaho or Alaska. I think for Montana, you only need to get 60 percent raw on MBE. Still pretty tough though.

Has anyone gotten over 60percent on civil procedure?

Civ Pro is the worst. I am stuck at 59% and I am not improving over time

[TTT_allstar]

65 percent will get you into Idaho or Alaska. I think for Montana, you only need to get 60 percent raw on MBE. Still pretty tough though.

Has anyone gotten over 60percent on civil procedure?

Civ Pro is the worst. I am stuck at 59% and I am not improving over time

Right, you just gotta make up for it on conlaw/crimpro. Civpro is a huge subject and entails extraordinary amounts of excruciating minutia. I am not spending an inordinate amount of time trying to boost my score by 2 percent on civpro.

[TTT_allstar]

Don't you hate when Themis does shit like this:

The president of a closely held corporation personally purchased an inn from a seller. In addition to a small down payment, the president executed a note for the remainder of the purchase price. The note was secured by a mortgage on the property. The mortgage and related deed were timely and properly recorded. The note contained a due-on-sale clause, which required the president to obtain the seller’s consent in order to transfer the inn. The president transferred the inn to her corporation without the seller’s permission or knowledge.

For several years, the president continued to make timely payments on the note from her personal bank account in order to conceal the transfer from the seller, until shortly before the president filed for personal bankruptcy, at which time the seller learned of the transfer. In the bankruptcy proceeding, the note is subject to discharge unless the seller’s failure to exercise his rights under the due-on-sale clause is due to intentional misrepresentation by the president. The current value of the inn is less than the outstanding balance owed on the note.

Does the president’s conduct constitute intentional misrepresentation?


If a client ever comes into my office and gives me a really long set of facts fully sounding in property law, and then asks me an easy question sounding in tort law that I only needed two quick facts to answer, my reply would simply be to "get the fuck out of here."

I don't know about anyone else, but when I see the word "mortgage" in a fact pattern, my mind starts wandering to baseball, food, yadda yadda.

[TheFutureLawyer]

x

[numbertwo88]

By skipping ALL of the lectures and doing just the Essays/Exams/MBEs you complete basically half of the course.

The fact that basically half of the course = lectures is ridiculous. I've decided.

[mclilazng]

New York went SO WELL

How did the rest of you do?

[46-and-2]

Bay of Pigs.

[waxecstatic]

I used Themis after a disastrous summer session with BarBri. Not really BarBri's fault, was just unbelievably unprepared. I used Themis for the February Mass bar and I think it went alright. I only got to 65% on the progress though.

[TwoBars]

Since results are trickling in from bar exams it seems like posting to this thread made sense.

Used Themis exclusively to prepare for the Feb 2015 Florida bar exam. I passed the exam easily with a 160 on the Florida portion and a 152 on the MBE. I would recommend Themis to anyone preparing for a bar exam. I felt the course materials were good and the suggested schedule made sense as to the order of studying the material.

[MACK]

Since results are trickling in from bar exams it seems like posting to this thread made sense.

Used Themis exclusively to prepare for the Feb 2015 Florida bar exam. I passed the exam easily with a 160 on the Florida portion and a 152 on the MBE. I would recommend Themis to anyone preparing for a bar exam. I felt the course materials were good and the suggested schedule made sense as to the order of studying the material.

Agreed. Used Themis and passed the Illinois bar. Going into the exam I felt fairly well prepared and coming out I had a good feeling that I did well. If you do use Themis I'd suggest working on the MBE subjects first, before all other subjects, so that you can start taking practice MBE exams at a very early stage. The Themis MBE practice questions bank has all the questions you would ever need to prepare for the bar. I recommend doing at least 1,750 practice MBE questions. I also suggest supplementing Themis materials with Critical Pass flashcards and Lean Sheets outlines.

Also, one other helpful hint: Skip the longer outlines. It's a waste of time to read them and about a month in everybody starts to realize this. Everything you need to know to pass the bar exam is covered in the lectures (and lecture handouts), so focus on getting through the lectures and studying your handouts as soon as possible.

[46-and-2]

Used Themis and passed Missouri.

[sparty99]

Since results are trickling in from bar exams it seems like posting to this thread made sense.

Used Themis exclusively to prepare for the Feb 2015 Florida bar exam. I passed the exam easily with a 160 on the Florida portion and a 152 on the MBE. I would recommend Themis to anyone preparing for a bar exam. I felt the course materials were good and the suggested schedule made sense as to the order of studying the material.

Agreed. Used Themis and passed the Illinois bar. Going into the exam I felt fairly well prepared and coming out I had a good feeling that I did well. If you do use Themis I'd suggest working on the MBE subjects first, before all other subjects, so that you can start taking practice MBE exams at a very early stage. The Themis MBE practice questions bank has all the questions you would ever need to prepare for the bar. I recommend doing at least 1,750 practice MBE questions. I also suggest supplementing Themis materials with Critical Pass flashcards and Lean Sheets outlines.

Also, one other helpful hint: Skip the longer outlines. It's a waste of time to read them and about a month in everybody starts to realize this. Everything you need to know to pass the bar exam is covered in the lectures (and lecture handouts), so focus on getting through the lectures and studying your handouts as soon as possible.

I took Illinois and passed and only did 700-900 practice questions. Did all the practice sets for the MBE subjects, but never had time for the mixed sets. The quantity isn't what is important, but making sure you know what you got wrong, why you got it wrong, and recognizing the subjects that are tested over and over again.

[TwoBars]

This might be helpful for those using or considering Themis for bar prep who are wondering how brutal the study schedule may be.

Themis provides plenty of materials to prepare you for the exam as do all the bar review courses. I found the course schedule helpful for keeping on track to get through the material and used it as a guide. Personally, I watched all the videos but at 1.5x-2x speed which helps cut down the time. I found the MBE subject professors were very good and shed some new light on the subjects. The state lecture professors were overall helpful but more varied as to lecture style. Admittedly , I did not necessarily enjoy all the lectures and took the time with some to review the associated outline while the lecture played. Basically I multi-tasked and would pay attention to the lecture if something of note caught my attention (easy to rewind and replay parts). Looking back, I am glad I watched/listened to the lectures as for several exam questions I recognized answers based on lectures.

As for the practice essays, I wrote out some early on, but then primarily issue spotted the essays and then read through the sample answers. This approach allowed me to eventually finish practice essays in about 10 minutes or less for the issue spotting and another 10 minutes digesting the answers. After a while, the recurring essays themes become easy to spot and the rules will sink in. I submitted all the graded essays in order to get the feedback. I recommend submitting the graded essays even if you don't feel ready to answer the essay. Even Themis tells you it is not really possible to write out full answers to all the practice essays. Learn the key rules and issue spot and write out full answers once in a while. The name of the game with bar exam essays is usually issue spotting.

The outlines provided plenty of information which I thought was pretty well condensed to the essential material needed to pass the bar. I read/skimmed each outline at least once and closely read the portions which I needed to to learn unfamiliar material. It's a lot of information, but if you graduated from law school you should be familiar with most of the material. The lectures did a good job of highlighting the key parts of any given subject. Don't get too concerned with minute details.

Practice multiple choice. I did all the questions provided. Spread out over the 10-12 weeks there is time to get through the practice questions. The answers to the questions are very helpful and point you to the associated outline sections should you need to review things in more detail. I found that going through the practice questions was a good way to identify what areas of any given subject I needed to review more closely. After you get through several practice sets for any given subject you can start to see what areas you have difficulty with. I definitely had some mental blocks on some con law and crim law topics which the practice questions helped me figure out. The point is that the multiple choice practice questions are perhaps the most helpful way to learn the material since it becomes readily apparent what you will repeatedly get wrong.

All things considered, bar review is a long and less-than-fun process. I started a few weeks early from the suggested schedule and tried to do something each day. I found that I could read through several outlines throughout the day whether or not assigned by Themis on any given day. The nice thing is you can jump around and Themis keeps track of what you did and adjusts. However, bar review takes time and you will have to devote at least 4-8 hours a day on average (for 12 weeks) to get through 100% of all the material. If you are working full-time while studying, I would recommend starting review as early as possible so that you don't have to study as much each day. You can't really cram for the bar exam. Good luck.

[LLB2JD]

Since results are trickling in from bar exams it seems like posting to this thread made sense.

Used Themis exclusively to prepare for the Feb 2015 Florida bar exam. I passed the exam easily with a 160 on the Florida portion and a 152 on the MBE. I would recommend Themis to anyone preparing for a bar exam. I felt the course materials were good and the suggested schedule made sense as to the order of studying the material.

Agreed. Used Themis and passed the Illinois bar. Going into the exam I felt fairly well prepared and coming out I had a good feeling that I did well. If you do use Themis I'd suggest working on the MBE subjects first, before all other subjects, so that you can start taking practice MBE exams at a very early stage. The Themis MBE practice questions bank has all the questions you would ever need to prepare for the bar. I recommend doing at least 1,750 practice MBE questions. I also suggest supplementing Themis materials with Critical Pass flashcards and Lean Sheets outlines.

Also, one other helpful hint: Skip the longer outlines. It's a waste of time to read them and about a month in everybody starts to realize this. Everything you need to know to pass the bar exam is covered in the lectures (and lecture handouts), so focus on getting through the lectures and studying your handouts as soon as possible.

So, to those that already passed, what were you averaging percentage wise on the Themis multiple choice practice sets?

[psteele99]

Used Themis and passed Washington on the first try. I did close to 1500 MBE questions. I also did every single essay offered, and two MPT's. My completion rate was 78%. My last timed MBE raw was 120. On the mixed sets I was scoring anywhere between 55% and 67%, but the questions did get significantly more nuanced as the mixed sets progressed. Themis was a great option for me. My essay grader was excellent, but the advisor I was assigned seemed rushed and pretty busy when I talked to her.

Keep up with the program as much as you can. One study habit I would have changed would have been to start flash carding/memorizing earlier in the game. Your advisor/mentor will tell you to only shoot for 50% on the subject specific MBE practice questions (which is super easy to do), but if I had tried a little harder in the beginning then perhaps I would not have been so stressed and rushing to memorize in the last two weeks. Additionally, I am the type of person who needs to read the outline and then do the lecture. The lectures don't cover everything, and how could they? When I started reading the outlines, things got a bit easier for me. This is especially true for Civ Pro.

Overall, I was really happy with Themis. No course is perfect, and Themis is no exception, but I passed the bar with room to spare.

[TwoBars]

averaged 65%-70% on the MQ questions. Scores improved overall from the start to the end of the course.

[addzegeye]

I used Themis in the past. Y'all can just skip the lectures, at least for any class you've taken in law school. I just answered practice questions and did fine.

TBF though, I might just be good at the bar exam. I did the NY bar with 20 hrs tops studying my friends' outlines and passed.

Hey my friend, I'm taking NY bar the coming February, 2016. Can you please share your friends' outlines with me? I will be working until the last week of the exam and really need efficient way to pass the bar. It looks like it worked for you. If I need to pay for the outlines, please let me know - i will pay. My email address is: addzegeye@gmail.com. Thanks